fter years of waiting I finally got a puppy. The weeks before her arrival were consumed with puppy preparations. I was excited, things needed to be done. The flat had by Alexandra Horowitz. I asked for a recommendation to pass the time, until my book arrived. The shop owner came up with Jen Beagin’s . Two other customers, accompanied by a sweet-looking dog, enthusiastically reaffirmed his choice. The cover had an illustration of two dog noses almost touching. What a perfect match, I thought. Big Swiss must be a St. Bernard or a Bernese Mountain Dog or some large mixed breed. I scanned the synopsis: “… she is tall, and she is from Switzerland.”, “… bump into Big Swiss in the local dog Park”, “A relationship that will transform both of their lives …”. All of which confirmed my conviction that this would be a funny book about a dog. It was when I got home and began to read that I realized Big Swiss was a woman. The book had very little to do with dogs. The book was about sex and relationships. I was perplexed. How? How could this have happened? I should have known, I could have known, had I not been so fixated and bothered to actually read the cover. In any case, it is a funny book. Just not about a dog.
